After I went back to my SP game last night, I found out about the weapon Ethan gave me, and you can tell him I'm never giving it back!!! Talk about an all-purpose weapon! Not only can you kill things at all angles (and quite a long way away from you), you can also clear weak spots in the ground close to you, you can kill through platforms, and you can "mow the lawn" as you go, all the while, lighting the way to whichever way you are pointing! WOWSERS!

Please tell him thank you VERY much for the armor pieces and the weapon. They've already helped me advance quite a bit more. I made 82 silver coins in about an hour, compared to the 92 that I had built up in the three days previously! I also now have 1 gold coin, and more merchants arriving in my little village all the time (not that I can make much use of them yet, but I will).

I made my first mining world today (Mining #1). It has worked out very well. I'm not trying to get merchants there or anything. I'm just exploring, gathering wood (of any kind that's available), planting new trees as I go, and searching for ore. I've been killing a lot of monsters and getting coins, and have found not only silver ore but gold ore.

Since Ethan gave me that neat weapon, I've sold all my other inferior weapons, and made a good bit of cash, as well. I have a bug net now, but haven't used it yet. I keep forgetting.

I bought a piggy bank with one of my first gold coins. It sits on a table, and it's a lot easier to keep just coins in there, without having to worry about getting them mixed in with other content. I haven't tried it yet, but I think it also could be kept in your inventory, and placed only when you want to get coins out of the action slots so that you won't lose them.

Just looked it up, and, AHA!!! It's like an Ender Chest! You can put anything in it and keep it in your inventory, as long as you also keep a table or two platforms on which to set it. In MP, it is used the same way as the Ender Chest in Minecraft...each player only sees his own stuff.

I've now experienced my first boss...way ahead of time, even though Carrie's son Ethan gave me some better armor and a MUCH better weapon when I was on their server yesterday. I don't know which boss it was, but it was a big skeleton, and he made mincemeat of me in a hurry.

Having the piggy bank, though, means I can keep traveling quite a bit longer, and keep building up coins faster. I need to get back to mining, though, so that I can make better armor, picks, and axes. I've upped them a LITTLE more, but compared to that weapon, they're still very slow. I also need to get more wood and make more lanterns, instead of torches. I keep forgetting to do that.